FROM BUSINESS WORLD OF 12 DECEMBER 2006
London in 1851
A census was
held in London in 1851; the Registrar General published a three-volume report
on it in 1853. The population of London in 1851 was 23.6 lac – 11.1 lac males
and 12.5 lac females. Of them, 10 men and 17 women were over 100 – amongst
them, two couples. There were 110,000 widows and 37,000 widowers; then as now
in Britain, women lived longer than men. Of those that were married, 474 men
and 3,465 women were under 20. One woman over 70 had a husband under 25; one
man over 70 had a wife under 16.
Almost one
Londoner in ten was a domestic servant – 32,928 men and 184,786 women – and another
33,214 were porters. The children of the rich were tutored by 5,310 governesses,
and taught to sing or play instruments by 2,196 music teachers. The rest of the
children were taught by 6,332 schoolteachers – 1,804 men and 4,528 women. Their
number was exceeded by that of publicans – 6,912 – who kept the people well
supplied with drinks. For those who were not so rich as to keep full-time
servants, there were 43,928 cleaning women and 11,570 charwomen. The Londoners
were protected by 6,367 policemen and 12,257 soldiers. The 552 doctors were
quite outnumbered by 3407 surgeons; there were 932 healers who were neither. Their
prescriptions were handled by 3067 chemists.
There were
39,852 people working in shops. The largest number was of butchers (9,586),
followed by milkmen (3,938), and vendors of vegetables (3,885), cheese (2,715),
fish (2,517) and poultry (631). Amongst artisans, there were 30,855 cobblers,
followed by carpenters (23,453), tailors (22,479), carpet layers (16,314),
blacksmiths (15,774), painters (15,369), masons (13,919), bakers (11,580),
printers (10,365) and goldsmiths and jewelers (7,564). These were all men; in
addition, 40,245 women worked as seamstresses.
Londoners were
not such philistines as the above figures may suggest. There were 2,283
painters and 1,124 sculptors. There were only 151 scientists.
There were
25,674 foreigners in London. The largest group was of Germans (9,566) followed
by Frenchmen (5,883). The only other nationalities that had more than 1000
inhabitants in London were Italians (1,604), Dutch (1,903), Russians (1,169)
and Americans (1,054).
Amongst those
who lived on investments or pensions were 7,940 men and 25,929 women. Against
these, 22,999 were in almshouses, 3,373 in hospitals and 4,161 in lunatic
asylums.
